Kampfer – 11

Out of all the shows I’m covering this season, Kampfer is the one that usually has me frantically trying to get a post out about. The plot isn’t overly profound — something that’s blatantly obvious after learning of the Moderators’ motives — but I almost want to call it “harem anime done right” because of characters like Shizuku. She’s kissing Natsuru at least once per episode and it’s gotten to the point where Mikoto and Akane can’t sit idly any longer. Natsuru’s kiss count with different girls may be going up, but Kaede’s shown to be of one-mind and well aware of her actions up to this point.

Having taken Hiaburi Lion (Utsumi Kenji) from Kaede’s place during their sleepover, Shizuku discovered that he’s an old fart Messenger (even though the eyecatch suggests otherwise). She slaps him around a bit to get him to tell Natsuru what she’s told her — the Moderators use the Kampfer battle to settle things between two powers in a far off universe. In other words, Kampfers fight a proxy war of sorts in order to determine the winner between the blue and the red without having them soil their own hands. That’s it. That’s your plot and mystery behind the Moderators in a nutshell. It took all of one minute to explain things and make Natsuru and Shizuku even more against participating. While I can sense the plot-hungry viewers raging at the sound of this already, I honestly don’t mind because anime has had much dumber premises. I admit this one’s rather simplistic, but at least they have superhuman abilities and galactic powers involved.

Getting back on track, they finally revealed who the girl Shizuku alluded to getting revenge for back in episode eight is. She happens to be a former senpai of hers named Tamiko, who was defeated as a red Kampfer. Shockingly, it sounds like she’s dead for good too, which is a far cry from the current Kampfer battles where everyone comes out unscathed. Be that as it may, we have Kaede revealing herself to be behind everything right in front of (male) Natsuru after he approaches her about Shizuku’s suspicions. Thanks to Shizuku’s kiss, he’s able to recall everything that happened while he was brainwashed at the pool. Unfortunately, that doesn’t save him from being forcibly transformed into the female form Kaede likes and getting brainwashed again. With a kiss and promise of being rewarded more, Kaede gets him to lure out Mikoto, Akane, and Shizuku and try to finish them off.

Cue in the first showing of Mikoto’s long-awaited transformation scene! And with that, a trap by the white Kampfer, who get beat down in less time than it took them to introduce themselves. The tide turns when Natsuru arrives, forcing Shizuku and Akane to try and take him down without harming him. Their attempt is quickly thwarted by the appearance of Kaede though, who jumps in to protect Natsuru with both a gun and a katana in hand. She shrugs off all accusations of being either a Moderator or a Kampfer and quickly takes everyone out. Upon waking up, the three of them find themselves tied up and at the mercy of Kaede. She still withholds information about herself, but is quick to reveal that she wants to get rid of them, just like Tamiko.

It turns out the white Kampfer were created for that sole purpose, after Shizuku and co. refused to fight and joined forces against the Moderators instead. Kaede goes on to say that she’s going to make the female Natsuru their ally, before explaining how she’s going to let him decide the victor of their current battle. If he chooses to be male, Shizuku and the others win because they all love him. If he chooses to be female, Kaede wins because she’s a full-fledged lesbian. This is more or less for her personal enjoyment since Natsuru’s brainwashed, but things don’t go her way when he comes to his senses at the sight of the cell phone strap he gave Shizuku. He then declares that he likes Kaede but won’t cooperate with her, since it comes at the cost of those important to him.

Much to Kaede’s disbelief, he goes on to say he chooses Shizuku, Akane, and Mikoto, overflowing them with so much power that their clothes can barely contain it. The Messengers also show up as “support”, projecting themselves in the sky and singing their rendition of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. As the white Kampfers get taken out, Kaede tries tricking Natsuru into helping her again, but is completely repulsed when he reverts back to his male self. Down and out, Kaede decides to retreat. Shizuku, Mikoto, and Akane however are appalled by how he almost kissed Kaede and rush in to kiss him one after another, before trying to give themselves an edge by having Natsuru feel them up. Shizuku in particular boldly says she’ll settle for the strap as her wedding ring until she gets the real one.

With practically everything out in the open now, the series has sort of lost its air of mystery. In a way, it’s like they’re waving a flag indicating we’re nearing the end. Kaede’s true intentions are clear now and all the buzz over whether she has a split personality can be put to rest. While it’s still possible she’s being manipulated, they haven’t given any indication of that so far. As such, I’m inclined to believe she’s a Moderator that possesses extremely high-level Kampfer abilities. The only thing she hasn’t shown is a Zauber ability, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she could use magic as well. In any case, she’s unquestionably established herself as the number one antagonist in my eyes. I really don’t see any new characters from the far off universe jumping in at this point.

In retrospect, this was a pretty jam-packed action episode. The fight on the rooftop against the white Kampfer was pretty short, but they did have Kaede joining in right after. As cool as that was to watch, things got even crazier at the end with round two. In fan-service-like affair, school girl uniforms were being torn up left and right, with Shizuku, Akane, and Mikoto showing us their interesting choices of lingerie. Out of those three, Akane’s was probably the most risqué since it didn’t seem to have any support, which is contrastingly befitting of her quiet, glasses-type character. Regardless of the service, I was actually impressed by the number of fight scenes they had animated, all of which was completely new material. The only reused scenes were the transformation ones, except Mikoto’s which was shown for the very first time. Even then, they haven’t shown those too often, so I still like watching them.

Story-wise, I’m wondering how they’re going to wrap things up short of a battle to the death. I can’t even fathom that there will be any casualties in this series, so I fear we’re in store for an open-ended “and life goes on” type of ending (like we have now). It’s pretty much the de facto conclusion to a harem anime, but I hope they address the Moderator/Kampfer issue at the very least. I’m fine if Natsuru doesn’t end up with anyone since I’m already expecting him not to. Next week is the finale and supposedly only bonus material, so this may be all we’re getting out of the anime. It’s Christmas and there’s some Messenger dress-up going on. I didn’t know Shizuku could make a face like that.

* For those wondering, the eyecatch is Hiaburi Lion on the left and Harakiri Tora on the right.* The excitement got the better of me and I ended up with a wall of text. It was a flurry of thoughts, so my apologies. Cookies anyone?

this serious is actually getting interested and it all ended with a simple explanation. well, its another harem anime i’m watching again. shizuku is the only character that is actually making this anime interesting right now

Actually I watch it because it is funny, who cares if the plot is simple and different from the light novel, so much better than the princess lover in term of character designs and plot. Shizuku is already an interesting characters from what I see in the manga, but she is just superb in the anime. Not to mention, Shizuku is voiced by Nunnally’s seiyuu.

i have to say i love it sometimes when they keep things simple though i can feel for those who want some overarching storyline, i have to say i like kaede though…something about being manipulative and hardcore lesbian…:D

I…got to admit that i’m gonna miss this anime. It’s hard to go around and whine about the plot when Shizuku and Kampfer Akane(May her bracelet stays, and with it her personality, Amen) keeps distracting me. And yeah, there are other animes with even more stupid plot, it’s just that Kampfer realized just how stupid it is and never took itself too seriously. I’m laughing just at the thought of the White Kampfers being beaten faster than Count Dooku…

Btw, i didn’t quite get from your explanation, but does Natsuru finally realized that the girls love him in the romantic sense? Or is he gonna be Kaede-Sexual for the rest of his life and forever be single what with her being a psycho lesbian and stuff?

How Natsuru can still like Kaede when Shizuku is there is beyond me. The guy has no taste in women at all. -____- First of all, why’d he say he liked Kaede? ’cause she definitely didn’t have likable characteristics by the end of the series.

OK, I’m srsly laughing at this one & every time I think about it I can’t stop. This shit wins, yeah I called it shit. I don’t care anymore, it deserves it. This anime’s worth is indirectly proportional to Natsuru’s worth…so if you think Natsuru is worthless then the anime is DaSHIT, but if you sad people think Natsuru puts the ‘won’ in wonderful then the anime is just plain horseSHIT.

For me, I don’t care about the plot, Natsuru, the mods, or the stuffies. It was just a crazy shitty slapstick ride. They reaaly need to have an orgy. Kaede’s hardcore lesb is just a fukin turn-on. She needs a taste of what a real man should be :P

@divine:
I really hope so, it’s going to be annoying if it turns out he means losing them as “friends”. No, just no…

@There’s a real man in Kampfer? Natsuru’s female half the time(and acts like one, too), Higashida’s all talk and no action…damn even Ikari Shinji is probably manlier than them, at least he’s actually fighting(sometimes)…

Well there goes one of this seasons Harem Anime(Nyan Koi is still going, right?), i guess next seasons will be Omamori Himari. God, i hope they wouldn’t f*cked that one, unlike Kampfer I already read the manga, so there’s actually some expectations on it. Unfortunately, teaser pics indicate otherwise…

this episode was pretty disappointing since up until this point the show was admittedly simplistic but still served as mindless entertainment. that whole final battle was just unwatchable for me mostly because once the animals started singing i couldn’t stop laughing long enough to see what was happening. and the laughter wasn’t really for the right reason. but who knows, given how simplistic the rest of the series was, maybe this was what they had been going for. but i had still hoped they would have executed the ending a little better than the almost ‘ah, screw it, let’s just end the thing with some fan service’ vibe that i got from it.

So the anime covers the material up to the novel’s 8th volume (plus a chapter in volume 8.5). And consider the novel is at the 11th, it doesn’t seem that there will be enough material for a second season anytime soon :(

Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE FUCK? The fight with the white kampfers is the biggest disappointment ever. Seriously, I’m so dumbfounded right now that the only thing I can express right now is wut da fuk.

so the other red kampfer in the manga is
Midori Kuzuhara and she was ordered to keep an eye on shizuku (src:wiki)(red kampfer before mikoto i guess)
and
Tamiko Shinomiya is another red kampfer who died and shizuku’s senpai
then
1 Shizuku
1 Tamiko (died/dont know if shes on manga too)
2 Midori (current red on manga/i guess she will die thats why new red(mikoto) was made)
3 Mikoto (current red on anime/not yet a kampfer in manga, dont know if will be)

come on, this show is not about Kampfer fighting to win by displaying amazing ability, what it presents is js your normal and somewhat abnormal harem romance type of thing. Must say to Natsuru Wise choice, man, wise choice, choosing THREE GIRLS who loved him as a man rather than one crazed lesbian who totally want to turn him into a girl and also a lesbian no less. But again, that crazy girl also got her own harem with the other 4 Kampfers so if Natsuru joins her, would he not get 5 girls instead, although that would make him lose his mind though so choice 1 is still better, heh! Shizuku is still the best heroine of this show, hah!

we watch it because it’s fun, whether they fight or not does not matter, oh, actually it matters because they can show how much clothing they will lose during the fight. Anime heroines are rich, got at least ten different school uniforms to change into so it doesn’t matter if their clothes were torn, Ikkitousen as an example

I remember someone telling me that Kampfer is essentially “The anime you won’t admit to liking”. This episode is proof of that. It’s so stupid yet entertaining and each episode makes me want to see what will happen next.

I think it’s really funny that Kaede is trying to fix the whole mess up when it was Natsuru who essentially got to Kampfer to stop fighting in the first place. I really enjoyed how Natsuru acknowledged the other girls. Its certainly a step in the right direction. The only regret I have in this episode is that Kaede didn’t get beaten ENOUGH yet.

OMG, this was the LAST serious episode? Wow, I’m shocked. Well, stupid ending to a stupid anime I guess, but it was entertaining at least, I’ve never failed to laugh at Natsuru being so dumb. He’s probably the dumbest and most girlish male protagonist I’ve ever seen :D
And I want COOKIES, altough I probably won’t get it if I say that I’d choose Akane over Shizuku anytime :P

Well for a second season they all can go to space and settle the red vs blue fight. This reminds me of white vs black (spies) in Mad Magazine :) Anyway, I watched this from the perspective of the girls, specially Shizuku. They try to give Natsuru some tiny balls at the end by choosing the girls over Kaede; but it was too late in the series to save his gutless persona. Poor Ken-kun struggling to have an harem ending and here Natsuru make it without even knowing it. More reason to hate him :D

@divine you will have to buy a huge oven, you have awaken the cookie monster dormant in me

In the manga they never say that a Kampfer “dies”, Shizuku specifically says that Kampfers that loose are “erased”. If this means that once a Kampfer dies that everyone forgets them as if they where never born or just her loose way of saying dead is beyond me. But then again a person disappearing with ought so much as a parent or the police getting involved makes me lean more toward the idea of their existence getting erased from all those except the current Kampfers.

Mind you since Ep1 one the environment that this anime is set in is so messed up unbelievable to the point that it seems the writers did not give a @#!@ that you never know one way or the other.

Looks like Natsuru finally rejected Kaede (I don’t say Evil Keade, becouse She isn’t even scary now), he calls Shizuku by her name, had a kiss with the other girls, and we had a funny fan-service type fighting… Nice episode, but I personally liked the Date with Shizuku better. And yeah, who cares abuot the plot if we can have fun without one…
With Kaede rejected, Shizuku have a really big chance with Natsuru, but as a lot of people said, we will probably get a harem ending.
Ps.: @divine Nice amount of text, have you ever thought about becoming a novelist? I would translate your novel into hungarian :D

I don’t really like to split hairs but anime can be pointless (contextually) but still serve the purpose you’ve just mentioned. This show accomplishes that perfectly. However, I think I was laughing for all the wrong reasons as others put it. My lol probably came from the infamous ‘WTF factor’ rather than the actual content of the episode. I got the same feeling from watching shit like Excel Saga.

Only in anime could you get a hero whos love interest is a full on lesbo, knows she’s is one, but still chases after her when other girls like him and want to cop off with him. Still though the show is entertaining.

All I can say is this was an unexpected ending(?), with Kaede displaying all three kampfer powers (pretty sure she zaubered Shizuku in their fight)showing she’s a moderator, and more importantly, a conniving, backstabbing lesbian bitch, especially to her “best friend”, Shizuku! The white kampfers had such little importance that they got an “off-screen” beat-down! The kampfer explanation was quick and dirty, just the way I wanted it. And like most of you, I was saying WTF when the animals went holographic projection and started singing “ode to joy”, kampfer style. I didn’t mind the Ikkitousen-like fanservice power-ups; now that was some great stuff!
Natsuru, finally, shows he’s a little bit of a man by telling Kaede he likes her, but he goes for the much better harem ending with the three more important girls in his life! Shizuku’s got Natsuru in the bag; Akane and Mikoto are just friends who are willing to give a little. If Natsuru gets hypnotized again, Shizuku’s kiss will bring him back to normal. I doubt the other girls have this special ability!
All being said, this was a stupid, yet entertaining anime, and it never took itself too seriously (the entrails animals are hot in human form, with burnt-alive lion pulling a Yoruichi from Bleach) and it brought us the awesome Shizuku, the real protagonist and heroine of the series!

Which isn’t ways a bad thing. This seemed like one of those series that was planned to be 20 something episodes, but got cut to 12 after they had already made the first 6. Then basically said f*** it, lets a least make it interesting.

With everything out in the open and Kaede’s true intentions realized. I really have nothing else to say about this series or this episode.

@Nestor:

I’ve also been following that series, hopefully the plot doesn’t get scrapped. So they can jsut make into a harem show.

There could be a 2nd season, maybe something about the moderators sending more Blue/Red to fight each other and Natsuru’s and the gang trying to stop them. Then getting fed up and actually coming down to earth to get them to fight or something like that. Kaede’s last words pretty much said that she was not finished trying to get Natsuru yet so maybe that was a hint at a possible 2nd season? Who knows but I would like to watch more thats for sure as I find the show and characters fun :)

man that was too much information all packed into one episodes. I guess that’s a down side to 12 episode animes that involve action. But really Natsuru STILL says he likes Kaede? How stupid can you get man? Get real! Not to mention he said it in front of three girls who would fight tooth to nail for him…sheesh…

hmmmmm…. Musashi or Yashigani. Every one here seems to have sort of their own opinion of which one Kampfer is. I choose to categorize it as Musashi because it was pretty terrible but that was the reason i liked it and although the story was terrible i would have to say that the animation was pretty good so…. it doesn’t really qualify as a (or “an”) Yashinagi. IMO

Wow… i liked this anime but if this is how its going to end….
-100 points
this ending sucks. the novels still have at least 13 volumes and they probably only cover vol 2. Fan service wise… the way they inserted it is random and the way Sakura and co. retreated at the end was pure **** who jumps away in unison with their hands fluttering like mini penguins?

I have to say the show was a bit of a disappointment plotwise. That being said I did notice that it broke the cliche that the guy ends with the first girl he sees in the show, though a harem life goes on ending isn’t much better but I would admit it is rare to see the male protagonist reject the “main girl” character and chooses the side characters.

Natsuru’s harem has now all come out in the open, now he has even less excuse to say he’s oblivious to their feelings, meaning we can bash the lucky bastard as much as we like on his wimpiness with relish. lol

divine, I don’t think those are just mere lingeries, but more like the Kampfer’s powered-up armours (thanks to the Messengers), they look too goth-loli in design to be worn by high schoolgirls on a regular basis.

There were plenty of revelations, really, but they were soooo not-funny-at-all that it wasn’t even worth waiting for these disclosure. It was all unfolded at such a little amount of time, it almost didn’t say anything!

To me it was the worst episode. I liked she series until episode then, but I was also watching because I wanted to know the reason why they fight and who Sakura was and stuff but when it was poorly explained… It didn’t even explain who the hell Sakura is, really!

IMO, I think Shizuku wins by proxy.
1. Her kiss can pull Natsuru out of his Hypnotized State
2. Her Kiss can make him remember what happened AFTER he was brainwashed
3. Just seeing the little trinket he bought for her during their date, peeking out of her uniform pocket could snap him out of Kaede’s mind control.
4. He’s finally reciprocated Shizuku’s Kiss! Right before his eyes snapped wide open in memory and he froze. That’s how Shizuku probably realized he’s remembered everything, when he stopped responding to her kiss.

My take on the series… they could’ve ended it better… My friend and I think there just MIGHT be a second season… We’re not sure, but from the looks of it… it seems… plausible… We never thought there would be… but seeing as how this ended… we think it’s a possible outcome.

I agree with Samu up there: “Shizuku’s got Natsuru in the bag; Akane and Mikoto are just friends who are willing to give a little. If Natsuru gets hypnotized again, Shizuku’s kiss will bring him back to normal. I doubt the other girls have this special ability!”

It’s obvious his like towards the girls are completely different. He’s never caved to ANY of Akane’s advances and even tries to stop her. He’s just too nice a guy to push her away…

Mikoto is obviously just a childhood friend he never saw anything past that.

And Shizuku… He’s finally stopped calling her ‘Kaichou’ and starts calling her ‘Shizuku’ It seems like he is starting to come around the idea that Shizuku is actually in love with him.

That, and he starts to see her as a normal girl… in a way. Maybe even a potential love interest. You can’t kiss someone so many times, make advances on them, especially remembering how you forced yourself on her, and NOT feel a thing!

He reciprocated her kiss, for once… that’s GOTTA mean SOMETHING!

I’ll look forward to whatever comes up next on Kampfer… Plus.. it’s Christmas… What can happen? Sadly.. I don’t see a Male Natsuru in that episode anywhere…. so I guess there wouldn’t be any Mistletoe action XD Oh well…

P.S. I heard there would be 13 eps… but since 12 is already an extra… should I think that it ends at 12 eps instead or would there be a 13 to conclude everything? or maybe even a Second season?

Well, I felt dissatisfy for this ending episode (the true ending for this story). It doesn’t show a good resolve for this story and the fighting part was too short. Thus I hope there’s a second season for this anime on next year. . .

yah, i mean the 11 episode i was OMFG-ed, the extra i was uber OMFG-ed, i mean c’mon xD at least it made me laugh, though i really am dissapointed if that is the end of kampfer, cuz i mean c’mon the last 2 episodes were like let’s shit something and finish this crap out and go eat sushi XD I enjoyed the show though but……… A 2 season is needed here,or else this will be the most dissapointing yet funniest anime i have ever watched XD IN 2 WORDS: IF THAT WAS THE ENDING, FOR ME IT’S AN EPIC FAIL OF THE STORYLINE,if they planned to finish it in that shitty way, they should just show teletubbies instead XD